Smoking & BBQ Ban Lifted for Most City Parks

Just in time for the freezing weather, the city of Houston has voted to lift the drought-induced ban on smoking and barbecuing in all but a dozen municipal parks.

The bans will remain in effect, though, in two of the city's main parks, Memorial and Hermann.

So grab a parka and some ribs and get a-cookin'!! Better bring some gloves, too.

The recent rains have been enough to ease the fire danger in most of the city's parks, Mayor Annise Parker said.

"This year's drought has been especially devastating to our city," Parker said. "Since the summer, we've been working to remove fire fuel sources in our parks. As a result of this work and the increased rainfall we've been experiencing, the fire risk has declined. However, there is still concern about 12 heavily forested city parks where the dead tree removal has not been completed. Therefore, the temporary ban on grilling and smoking will remain in place for those parks."